Many leading orchestras or choirs, and a fair number of less accomplished ones too, can quite easily navigate their way through even the most complex works without anyone waving a baton in front of them. Where the greatest conductors earn their corn is in turning a workaday performance into something potentially special. Their knowledge, preparation, artistic vision and leadership are all important, but above all, they are there to inspire.
But which of their peers and forebears are the conductors themselves inspired by? We put this question to 100 of today’s best, inviting them to name three each.
We counted up the votes of our 100 conductors, and present the Top 20. The results are fascinating…
Listen to tracks from the winning conductors here:
Best conductor: the finest maestros in classical music history
21. Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985), Hungarian-American
Few conductors are so indelibly associated with one orchestra as Eugene Ormandy is with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Across an incredible 45-year tenure as chief conductor from 1936 to 1980, Ormandy built the Philadelphia into one of the world's most recognisable and bankable orchestras, known everywhere for its lush, rich sound, often called the 'Philadelphia Sound'.
Ormandy is remembered as one of the 20th century’s most influential conductors, celebrated for his vast recording legacy, technical precision, and commitment to a wide repertoire that ranged from the Romantic era to contemporary music. His speciality was probably late Romanticism from Tchaikovsky to Sibelius but, in reality, Ormandy was extraordinary a wide raft of music.
Eugene Ormandy best recording
Sibelius Symphony No. 7 | Philadelphia Orchestra (Sony Essential Classics)
20. Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988), Russian
Yevgeny Mravinsky inherited the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in 1938 from the Austrian conductor Fritz Stiedry, and was largely responsible for maintaining the Austro-German tradition through the fraught years of Stalin’s Terror.
He also conducted the hugely successful 1937 premiere of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, a performance that almost certainly saved the composer’s life, and went on to premiere five more of Shostakovich's symphonies. We named Mravinsky one of the best Shostakovich conductors ever.
Elsewhere, Mravinsky’s interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s work – powerfully expressive yet with a masterful sense of structure – was legendary.
Mravinsky Best Recording
Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 4-6 | Leningrad PO (DG 477 5911)
19. Marin Alsop (b. 1956), American
The American conductor Marin Alsop has a major distinction to her name. She was the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, in 2013 (she's since conducted two more, more recently at the 2023 Proms). The milestones don't stop there, however: Alsop is also the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain. And she's been a key figure in the emergence of more female conductors.
Alsop founded the New York String Ensemble in 1981. Three years later she set up Concordia, a 50-piece orchestra that specialised in 20th-century American music. A major landmark in her career came in 2007, when she became chief conductor a Baltimore - the first-ever woman to lead a major American symphony orchestra.
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Marin Alsop best recording
Schumann Symphonies 3 & 4 (arr. Mahler) | Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop Naxos 8.574430
18. Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), French
Early in his career Pierre Monteux conducted several premieres for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, including Stravinsky's Rite of Spring: while the audience rioted, Monteux coolly conducted that complex score to the end.
The great Toscanini (more on him later) considered his baton technique the best he had ever seen, and Monteux shared with the Italian the belief that the composer’s score was sacrosanct – with the difference that Monteux was dearly loved by his players. His conducting pupils include Sir Neville Marriner, André Previn and David Zinman.
Pierre Monteux Best Recording
Debussy Images | London Symphony Orchestra (Eloquence 476 8472)
17. Georg Solti (1912-97), Hungarian-British
Georg Solti enjoyed an illustrious 22 year tenure at the head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he performed and recorded acclaimed cycles of the Brahms, Bruckner, Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, among others. Under his leadership, the CSO (one of America's 'Big Five') became a world-leading orchestra, famed particularly for its powerful brass sound (from principal trumpeter Adolph 'Bud' Herseth and others).
Think of Solti and another famous endeavour comes to mind: his mighty traversal of Wagner's Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen), a landmark recording project which remains one of the most iconic recordings in classical music history. Indeed, the latter finished strongly in our top 50 best recordings of all time.
Georg Solti best recordings
Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen | Christa Ludwig, Birgit Nilsson, Kirsten Flagstad, Hans Hotter et al; Vienna Philharmonic/Solti (Decca)
Schubert Symphony No. 9 | Vienna Philharmonic/Solti (Decca)
16. Bernard Haitink (1929-2021), Dutch
Bernard Haitink’s career was launched in 1956 when he stepped in for an indisposed Carlo Maria Giulini and conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Just five years later he became the orchestra’s youngest-ever principal conductor.
A believer in close collaboration with few ensembles rather than fleeting appearances with many, Haitink’s lengthy stints with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden made him a firm fixture in the UK’s musical life.
A master of symphonic architecture, Haitink is perhaps best known for his Mahler and Bruckner, though he has won plaudits for much beyond.
Bernard Haitink best recording
Beethoven Symphonies Nos 4 & 8 | London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live LSO087)
Greatest conductors of all time: the top 15
15. George Szell (1897-1970), Hungarian
Famously dictatorial and autocratic, Hungarian émigré George Szell bullied, cajoled and coached the Cleveland Orchestra (another of America's Big Five orchestras) from post-war provincial obscurity to one of the world’s great virtuoso bodies. For his feats at Cleveland, he deserves entry into any list of classical music's greatest conductors.
A formidable orchestral trainer with a clear, incisive stick technique and what some judged the best left hand in the business, Szell was also respected for his cultured musicality, though he was undoubtedly objectivist in his musical inclinations. Rare recordings with European orchestras show him at his most spontaneously expressive.
George Szell best recording
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 | Clifford Curzon )piano)/LSO (Decca 478 1386)
Haydn Symphonies 92 'Oxford', 94 'Surprise', 96 'Miracle' | Cleveland Orchestra (Sony Classical SBK 46 332)
14. Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963), Hungarian
Had he lived to become a ‘Grand Old Man’ among conductors, Hungarian-born Ferenc Fricsay, who died of cancer aged just 48, would surely be mentioned in the same breath as, say, Arturo Toscanini.
A superb orchestral trainer and musician of great integrity, who himself studied under Bartók, Fricsay was at the height of his powers in the mid-1950s when he forged his reputation with a number of German orchestras.
Masterful in the music of his teacher, and also of Beethoven and Mozart, Fricsay's Berlin Phil recording of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth is outstandingly blazing and dramatic.
Ferenc Fricsay Best Recording
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 | Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Archipel ARPCD0200)
13. Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970), British
‘Glorious John’. Vaughan Williams called Barbirolli that, and although Sir John successfully conducted the great orchestras of London, New York, Berlin and Vienna, it’s an appellation merited mainly for his work with Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra, which he rebuilt from wartime decimation to international stature.
String phrasing of great warmth and expressivity was a particular hallmark, Barbirolli himself being originally a cellist. He always conducted ‘con amore’ ('with love'), not least in British music, which he championed indefatigably.
John Barbirolli Best Recording
Elgar Symphony No. 2 | Hallé Orchestra (EMI 968 9242)
12. Sir John Eliot Gardiner (b. 1943), British
His star has fallen of late thanks to reported incidences of bullying. And certainly, there's no condoning that. Yet, while acknowledging this major flaw to his character, we feel we should still salute the musical talents of John Eliot Gardiner. Any conductor who can persuade players and singers to join him on a year-long, 40,000-mile tour performing just one composer – as Gardiner did with his Bach Pilgrimage in 2000 – must have a certain something.
Long before that epic journey, Gardiner had established himself as one of the leading pioneers of the period instrument movement, founding three ensembles in his drive towards presenting the music of the Baroque period in a new light.
Best known for Bach and his contemporaries, Gardiner has also made acclaimed discs of repertoire reaching well into the 20th century. His exciting Beethoven symphonies cycle with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is well worth a listen.
John Eliot Gardiner Best Recording
JS Bach Christmas and New Year Cantatas | Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (Soli Deo Gloria SDG 137)
11. Rafael Kubelik (1914-96), Czech
Conductor, composer, violinist: Rafael Kubelik had many strings to his bow. It's undoubtedly as conductor that he is best remembered, though. Kubelik had a certain style - very lyrical and poetic, somehow steeped in humanity. His Mahler symphonies may not be the most tightly drilled of them all (though there's absolutely nothing lack in that department) - what they are, though, is radiant with emotion and lyricism.
In that way, Kubelik as a conductor somewhat resembles Leonard Bernstein, whose Mahler cycles were often set against Kubelik's as the finest cycles available before the market widened so considerably. His Dvořák symphony cycle is also right up there among the finest.
Kubelík’s illustrious career featured spells at the helm of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Rafael Kubelik best recording
Mahler Symphony No. 1 'Titan' | Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (DG Originals)
Best conductor of all time: the top ten
10. Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), French
Return to the pounding rhythms of the Cleveland Orchestra’s 1969 Stravinsky Rite of Spring recording, and you begin to hear why Pierre Boulez was renowned for combining intensity with pinpoint precision. On the podium he shunned flamboyance in favour of a cool, analytical conducting style, in which minimal gestures get straight to the sound he wants.
What did Pierre Boulez do?
In the 1970s, he opened new music up to wider audiences as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and music director of the New York Philharmonic, with informal concerts in London and New York. As a conductor, Boulez explored and inspired in equal measures, teaching leading orchestras around the world about 20th-century music and building audiences for works by the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern) as well as Bartók, Stravinsky and Mahler.
Pierre Boulez Best Recording
Ravel Piano Concertos | Krystian Zimerman, Cleveland Orchestra (DG 449 2132)
9. Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005), Italian
With a naturally aristocratic sense of style, Carlo Maria Giulini also brought a sense of refinement, and even spirituality, that raised him above other conductors of his time. Starting out as an orchestral viola player, Giulini played in the Accademia di Santa Cecilia under many leading conductors before transferring to the baton following the liberation of Italy during World War II.
After the war he worked regularly with Italian radio; then, encouraged both by Toscanini and Victor de Sabata, he succeeded the latter as La Scala’s principal conductor in 1953. He remained there only three years, leaving because of audience behaviour, but maintained important relationships with Maria Callas and directors Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli, whose integrity and sense of artistic vision he shared.
In 1968 he abandoned opera, feeling unable to maintain the standards he aspired to in the rough and tumble world of the theatre, though he returned to the form in 1982 with Falstaff, both in Los Angeles and London. His finest work, both in symphonic works and opera, forms a shining beacon of authority without ego. One of the least self-aggrandising, yet clearly one of the greatest conductors of all time.
Carlo Maria Giulini Best Recordings
Mozart Don Giovanni Eberhard Wächter etc, Philharmonia (EMI 966 7992)
Bruckner Symphony No. 9 | Vienna Philharmonic (DG)
8. Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), Italian
Through his much vaunted attention to the composer’s score – which he considered sacrosanct – his single-mindedness in pursuing seriousness and high standards, his strength of personality, and not least his status as a US national figure as conductor of the NBC SO (1937-54), Toscanini became one of the musical legends of the 20th century.
A consistently hard worker, and fierce with musicians who gave less than 100 per cent, he rose to prominence in Italy with premieres of works by Puccini and his contemporaries (notably La bohème), as well as championing Wagner, Verdi and Debussy.
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America beckoned, first in the case of the Metropolitan Opera (1908-15, where he initially shared conducting duties, uncomfortably, with Mahler), then at the New York Philharmonic (1928-36), and latterly (1937-54) with the NBC Symphony, formed especially for him and giving him a national platform.
His performances of Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy’s La mer were regularly considered definitive, while his view of the conductor’s role and responsibilities influenced a generation. For the way he helped to define the modern conductor, as much as his own feats in the field, Toscanini must be considered one of the greatest conductors of all time.
Arturo Toscanini Best Recording
Debussy La mer, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune etc | NBC Symphony Orchestra (Guild Historical GHCD 2271-2)
7. Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954), German
Footage of Wilhelm Furtwängler on the podium reveals a figure totally immersed in music, conjuring sounds rather than conducting them, twitching, swaying, hovering and convulsing, not for personal effect, but in unselfconscious response to the narrative drama unfolding in the orchestra. Frequently branded a subjectivist, Furtwangler understood and articulated the formal structures of the great 19th-century Austrian and German composers repertoire as no other conductor, shaping works with an utterly compelling architectural logic.
For Furtwängler, music had the power to challenge, invigorate and spiritually change the individual listener. That is why he stayed in Nazi Germany conducting his beloved Berlin Philharmonic when many say he should have departed: he thought his fellow Germans needed the civilising influence of great music more than ever.
Many have imitated him (Daniel Barenboim in particular), but few if any have matched Furtwangler's extraordinary combination of intellectual grip and emotional intensity.
We named Wilhelm Furtwängler one of the greatest Beethoven performers ever
Wilhelm Furtwängler Best Recording
Wagner Tristan und Isolde | Kirsten Flagstad, Ludwig Suthaus etc, Philharmonia (EMI 585 8732)
6. Sir Simon Rattle (b. 1955), British
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was a decent band when Simon Rattle became chief conductor in 1980. When he left 18 years later, it had become one of the best orchestras in the world.
Rattle had been talent-spotted early, even before he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, when he organised a student performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. He has since been most closely associated with Mahler, yet he has demonstrated a wide-ranging grasp of repertoire, from stage works by Rameau and Mozart (he has often conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) through to modern repertoire.
Rattle has been a staunch champion of contemporary composers, most famously Nicholas Maw (whose Odyssey he made a precondition of signing to EMI), while also raising the profile of such underestimated composers as Szymanowski, Grainger and Gershwin. He's also passionate about music education (he himself was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain), and loves to help bring on the next generation of conductors, as you'll see from the clip below (not half bad German either, Sir Simon!).
Simon Rattle Best Recording
Mahler Symphony No. 2 | City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI 345 7942)
Best conductor: the top five
5. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016), Austrian
One-time cellist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, pioneering Baroque specialist and renowned conductor in just about every musical style, including Johann Strauss operettas and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Nikolaus Harnoncourt was a musician who refused to be pigeonholed. He was an ace of all trades, the sworn enemy of routine and provocative to the last.
In the musical world he was much admired both by peers and disciples for his fearless quest for musical truth – his founding, in 1953, of the period-instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien and his lengthy project with Gustav Leonhardt to record all of JS Bach’s cantatas, begun in 1971, were both moments of fundamental importance in inspiring a generation of historically informed performance scholars and enthusiasts.
A late Harnoncourt performance does not go in for luxuriant string tone, so honeyed warmth is not on the agenda in his interpretations of the Romantics. This certainly pays off in his Beethoven performances, which have a refreshingly lean sound, while Brahms, Dvořák and Bruckner, too, appear with greater transparency.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt Best Recording
Dvořák Symphony No. 7 / The Wild Dove | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Warner 3984 25254-2)
4. Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), Austrian
Herbert von Karajan was unquestionably the most famous conductor of the second half of the 20th century. Even those of a non-musical bent recognised his name. For many, he ruled the classical music world, and his concerts and recordings represented the peak of excellence.
Although he embraced new technology and, on hearing digital recording for the first time, famously proclaimed that ‘everything else is gaslight’, his Beethoven recordings with the Philharmonia from the 1950s are both fiery and noble whereas his final ones, although pristine, are comparatively bland.
Whatever one feels about Karajan’s ultimate status in musical history, there is no denying that, at his best, he was a phenomenal musician, not only on his home turf with Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss but also with the orchestral works of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, the operas of Verdi and Puccini and much else.
Best Karajan Recordings
Sibelius Symphony No. 4 | Berlin Philharmonic (DG 457 7482)
Beethoven The Symphonies | Berlin Philharmonic (1963 recordings, DG 42732084)
- We can recommend you the best Beethoven symphony sets, or if you prefer, the best recordings of each Beethoven symphony
3. Claudio Abbado (1933-2014), Italian
Taciturn, placid, shy and private, Claudio Abbado was an unlikely Italian and an even less likely great conductor. He detested overt shows of power. He mumbled in rehearsal. And he never lost his rag. Taken as a boy in Milan to watch Toscanini rehearse, he remembered thinking how ‘horrible’ it was when the maestro screamed at the orchestra.
Yet this gentle, self-effacing man held the most important conducting positions in Europe. Early in his career he was made music director of Milan's great opera house La Scala, where he mixed scintillating Rossini with boldly revived rarities. Then came memorable stints at the helms of the LSO, Vienna State Opera and Berlin Philharmonic, in between which he founded two of the world’s finest youth orchestras.
Abbado’s interpretations of Mahler and Bruckner symphonies, or epic operatic explorations of spirituality such as Fidelio or Parsifal, now seem to reach far beyond the realms of music. They are journeys of the soul and affirmations of humanity. Abbado was a subtle and sophisticated conductor, but can also be counted as one of the most profound visionaries of our age.
Claudio Abbado Best Recording
Mahler Symphony No. 3 | Lucerne Festival Orchestra (Medici Arts DVD 205 6338)
2. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), American
Perhaps no one has possessed a more comprehensive collection of the traits conductors view as assets in their profession: Leonard Bernstein was almost impossibly musical, talented, versatile, creative, handsome, energetic, inquisitive, intelligent, charismatic and articulate.
Those who encountered him knew they were in the presence of a force of nature; love him or hate him, Lenny was difficult to ignore.
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His celebrated last-minute debut with the New York Philharmonic (1943) ultimately resulted in a tenure there (1958-69) during which he championed the work of American and avant-garde composers, reached out to audiences through the televised Young People’s Concerts, and helped a troubled decade to find itself in the music of Gustav Mahler.
Before this stint his life involved composing (Candide, West Side Story), to which he later added mentoring young conductors and cultivating an international reputation (Vienna became a second home).
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What was Leonard Bernstein like?
Bernstein’s strength was his emotional connection with the music he led; given his larger-than-life personality, his performances often contained exaggerations that perturbed critics, and one seldom came away from a Bernstein performance with the impression that he had polished the orchestral textures and sonorities to the extent that many of his colleagues considered desirable.
Instead, his was a flamboyant, sincere, persuasive style. Others might offer more scintillating detail and specifically musical insight, but Bernstein energised his listeners, prompting them to revel in the sheer joy of being alive.
Best Leonard Bernstein recording
Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 1 & 7 | Chicago Symphony Orchestra (DG 477 7587)
Best conductor of all time: the greatest of them all
1. Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004), Austrian
To hear or, far better, to see (there are quite a few DVDs) Carlos Kleiber conducting is always an exciting, inspiring, moving experience. It makes you want to find out how many recordings of him there are.
And you immediately get a shock. In his 74 years, he conducted one Haydn symphony, two by Mozart, four by Beethoven, two by Schubert, one by Borodin, and two by Brahms. And he accompanied a concerto on only one occasion, performing Dvořák with pianist Sviatoslav Richter, fittingly one of the greatest pianists of all time. In the opera house, Kleiber conducted two operas by Richard Strauss, one by Weber, one by Wagner, one by Berg and three by Verdi.
Who was Carlos Kleiber's father?
The decisive factor in Carlos Kleiber’s life was his father, the great conductor, Erich Kleiber, whose repertoire included almost all the works the latter performed. Erich left recordings of them, which Carlos listened to obsessively, convinced that he could never do as well. Erich was strongly opposed to his son becoming a musician, so Carlos tried studying chemistry, loathed it, and turned to music early on.
When he moved to Stuttgart in 1964 he had his breakthrough. There is a wonderful DVD of him rehearsing the Stuttgart Radio Symphony in two overtures, turning a collection of bored musicians into smiling collaborators: he seduces everyone by his boyish manner and his almost continuous commentary on the music as he rehearses it; and he looks happy and intense throughout. At the end we see the overtures – to Die Fledermaus and Weber's Der Freischütz – played to an ecstatic audience.
What was Carlos Kleiber like as a conductor?
He swoops, sometimes stands motionless in a dandyish pose, even laughs, sometimes closes his eyes and listens in rapture. The tenor Plácido Domingo, who regards him as the most musical person he has ever met, says that when Kleiber was conducting an opera everyone was looking at the pit, not at the stage.
Yet he conducted just 96 concerts in his life, and about 400 operatic performances. He rehearsed so exhaustively that at the performance he could improvise, but with precise effect. That is his unique secret – the music really does seem as if it is being composed as it is played, and played immaculately.
The only trouble with such perfectionism is that there is the constant fear that you can’t keep it up, and Kleiber’s joy in music-making soon turned to continuous anxiety, so that he cancelled many concerts, and only gave one or two a year in the decade before his last one, in 1999.
The trajectory of his career is similar to that of the great opera singer Maria Callas. They both concentrated on a small number of works of which they gave performances which will almost certainly never be equalled. Their dedication to music became a torture, their fame something to be looked on almost with horror. Thank heavens they left such incomparable legacies.
Best Carlos Kleiber recordings
Brahms Symphony No. 4 | Vienna Philharmonic (DG 457 7062)
R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier (DVD) | Felicity Lott, Barbara Bonney et al; Vienna State Opera
Also, try this DVD featuring scenes of Kleiber in rehearsal, to get a feel for his magical, alchemical way with music and performers:
Carlos Kleiber: in Rehearsal and Performance (DVD) | Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (Arthaus Musik 101 062)
This article first appeared in the April 2011 issue of BBC Music Magazine.